Staff Reporter:
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman yesterday said that his government is attaching the highest importance to protect workers’ rights, ensuring a safe working environment, and implementing international labour standards.
The Prime Minister said this when International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo paid a courtesy call on him at his office in the Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday morning.
At the outset of the meeting, he said, the ILO director general congratulated Tarique Rahman on assum-ing office as the head of the government.
Houngbo said that international confidence in Bangladesh had been further strengthened following the assumption of office by a government elected through the direct votes of the people.
In this context, the ILO director general said the ILO is interested in further strengthening its long-standing partnership with Bangladesh and will continue to work closely with the government for the de-velopment of the labor sector.
In response, the Prime Minister thanked the ILO for its continued cooperation and said that his govern-ment is attaching the highest importance to protecting workers’ rights, ensuring a safe working environ-ment, and implementing international labour standards.
The ILO director general also congratulated the Prime Minister on the election of Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman as President of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
During the meeting, Tarique Rahman reiterated his government’s commitment to ensuring a worker-friendly and sustainable working environment.
Besides, the ILO director-general expressed his commitment to further expanding the organization’s ex-isting cooperation with Bangladesh and working jointly for the development of the country’s labor sec-tor.
Labor and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury, Prime Minister’s Adviser Mahdi Amin, Sec-retary to the Labor and Employment Ministry Md. Abdur Rahman Tarafder, Director General (UN Wing) at the Foreign Affairs Ministry Md. Kamruzzaman, ILO Country Director in Bangladesh Max Tuñón and Senior Adviser to the ILO Director-General at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Hitomi Nak-agome were present at the meeting.
